


a garden needs the rain

by fabulousfairytales



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-23 19:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18708847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabulousfairytales/pseuds/fabulousfairytales
Summary: There is this thing between them. They can both feel it, but neither will speak of it. Or, how Casey and Maggie tip-toe around each other in her plant kingdom.





	a garden needs the rain

**Author's Note:**

> So it's been 84 years, but I finally finished this fic! As I'm currently struggling a lil to write, I'm glad I could write this for my dear friend [schmicoismysunsword](https://schmicoismysunsword.tumblr.com/)! I hope you like it!!

Maggie sighed as she stared at the guiana chestplant in front of her. Of course, nobody had watered it, again. Nobody did except her. Well and Casey.  _Parker_ , she reminded herself. 

The two of them have spent a lot of time together lately. It’s because Ca- Parker is good at his job. Granted, the other interns are also good, but... Parker and her just clicked. He understood what she needed without having to actually say it. They never really talked much about anything personal, and yet, they were so familiar with each other. Which was also part of why Maggie tried her best to keep him away. 

She didn’t understand what their thing that totally wasn’t a thing had become, but she did know that she had to watch out. Not only for her own sake, but also for C – Parker’s. He was an intern, goddammit! She was his teacher and she needed to keep the distance. Yes, that’s it. She needed distance, because you shouldn’t be friends with your teachers. That’s totally it. There was no other reason. 

She got pulled out of her thoughts when the door to her plant kingdom opened and the very intern that she was just thinking of, entered the room. She frowned a little, trying to figure out why he was here. Wasn’t he already off? 

“Parker. What are you doing here?” She tried to sound non-chalant, but she knew that Parker already had seen through her. He gave her a soft smile as he wiggled the small watering can. 

“Hey, I know this room is your project, but I was wondering if my friends and I could hang out here from time to time to study for our exams. You know, since the plants are supposed to increase mood and concentration.” He had been meaning to ask her for days, but never got the chance to talk to her in private. Either Dr. Grey, Dr. Avery or other interns and patients were around them. 

It was an innocent question, of course. But it was about her big project, her baby. It wasn’t something you could just ask for in passing.

Maggie frowned in confusion. Why would he ask this? The room was for everybody. It’s not like she was withholding the room from anybody. People could go in there whenever they liked, she didn’t have a special policy on it or anything. 

However, Maggie’s mouth turned into an o-shape when she realized that Parker and his friends were only interns and that some of the attendings might just kick them out, playing their rank. She nodded quickly and gave him a sympathetic smile. 

“Oh, of course. I mean you helped me with the room and are coming back to water the plants, it’s the least I can do.” 

Nodding, Casey was about to water the fiddle leaf fig when Dr. Pierce spoke up again. 

“Hey Parker? Give me your phone.” 

What? His phone? Why would she need his phone? A thousand questions rushed through his head. 

And yet he found himself unlocking it and handing it over to the head of cardio in front of him. She typed in something he couldn’t quite see yet before giving it back to him. As their fingers had grazed for the smallest amount of time, Casey’s and Maggie’s heads shot up, they were staring into each other’s eyes for a moment, a long moment, before Maggie finally snapped out of it. 

“Here, text me when anybody ever bothers you or your friends in here. I’ll come down and tell them a little something about sharing.” 

Casey just stared at the new contact in his phone. Maggie Pierce. Not even Doctor Pierce. _Maggie_. It felt inappropriately intimate and yet it made him feel so... elated? 

“Even if it’s one of your sisters or Dr. Avery?” He asked after he managed to put away his phone again. He could stare at her name when he was home. 

“Oh, especially if it’s one of my sisters or Dr. Avery,” she reassured him. 

Casey nodded and gave her a hesitant smile. Just when he was about to water the plant, he felt her hand on his arm and froze. She never – 

“Give me the watering can. Go home and get some sleep, you’ve been here for way too long already. I’ll take it from here,” she said, her voice softer than usual. He didn’t know what else to say so he just nodded and gave her the object in his hand before leaving the room. 

- 

“This is so cool. We have the authority to kick out people now?” Taryn asked excited. 

“No,” Levi countered, “ _Casey_ has the authority to kick out people.” 

“I’m not gonna kick out people,” he stated sternly, his eyes fixed on one of Dahlia’s flashcards in his hands. 

“Oh, I hope you don’t,” Nico chuckled as he entered the room, putting down a paper bag with donuts before curling up next to Levi, using his boyfriend’s thighs as a pillow. 

“As long as you bring food, you’re always welcome,” Dahlia assured, putting down her cards and reaching over to get a chocolate donut. She loved chocolate donuts. They were simply the best and she would fight anyone who disagreed. 

Casey just shook his head with a smirk. They were right. He _did_ have the authority to throw out people. Maggie – Dr. Pierce had told him that if anybody bothers them and doesn’t leave, he should just text her. She even gave him her private phone number for this. It was unexpected and he would obviously only use it for its intended purpose, but it did feel special. 

They also had another of these little moments when she gave him his phone back and their fingers brushed. Neither of them said a word, but both of them we snapping their head up to stare at the other one for a little bit longer than appropriate. Casey couldn’t figure out what this moment meant, but he knew that Maggie didn’t either. 

Their relationship, or well thing, was something neither of them could define. It consisted of stolen glances, awkward smiles and deep understanding of the other. It was an odd mixture, but it was what it was and Casey was okay with it right now. 

Or at least that’s what he told himself. 

- 

The B-Team was Maggie’s favorite group of people using her room. They always cleaned up after themselves and regularly watered the plants. So it was only naturally that when she entered the room and found them there, she wouldn’t shoo them out. 

“The sound of people studying calms me down a lot, so don’t worry and carry on,” she explained with a soft smile. Her glance lingered on the group in front of her before she made herself comfortable in the armchair at the other side of the room, closing her eyes as she listened to the medical chatter as if it was the sound of waves hitting the shore. 

Entranced in the calming voices, she didn’t notice Nico coming over, sitting down in the armchair next to hers, until she felt his stare on her. 

“Dr. Kim,” she noted surprised. “Why are you...?” 

“Oh, I thought I could keep you some company. I mean, only if you want to. If you’d rather be alone I can just –” 

“No,” she said quickly. “No, stay. I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while now, but never really got to it.” 

Nico’s brow shot up as he shifted in his chair. “You wanted to talk... to _me_?” What could she have to say to him? 

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “Yeah, I thought it’s time I get to know you a little.” 

“But... why?” 

“Why not?” She countered with a grin. She knew that she had been a little too harsh to him back when he had lost Josh. She knew nothing about him, only that he was always so confident. She had seen it as arrogance which was probably why she’d been so angry about the situation. An arrogant fellow who screws up a procedure and kills his 20-year-old patient. 

But that wasn’t all that was to him. She realized that after a conversation she had with her sisters. And she felt awful for judging him like that. How did this even happen? She hated it when people were overly judgy. She had been bullied all through high school and college because she was ‘weird’ and ‘different’. How could she judge this man who she didn’t even know just like that? This wasn’t her. No, not at all. 

“Fair enough,” he chuckled, waiting for her first question. 

“So, Dr. Kim –” 

“Nico. Call me Nico.” 

She gave him a small smile. “Okay, Nico. Call me Maggie.” 

- 

“I’m tired of pretending,” she mumbled absent to herself as her eyes were fixed on the study group. The group, not one person in particular who was grinning widely as he took a huge bite out of his donut. Totally the whole group. Yes. 

“Pretending... what?” Nico asked with a smirk. He wasn’t blind, he had noticed the way she looked over to them whenever Casey spoke up or laughed a little bit louder than his friends. 

“Huh?” Maggie’s head snapped up, she was feeling her cheeks heating up as she was looking for the words. 

“I uh nothing. Nothing, I mean –” 

“Don’t worry,” Nico chuckled as turned to look at them as well. “I wish I could somehow help them with this, make it more fun.” 

“Hmm, what about we turn it into a little game?” She suggested. “Something like Jeopardy?” 

“Jeopardy?” 

“Jeopardy.” 

- 

“What is arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia!” Casey exclaimed excited. Oh yes, he’s been waiting for this one. Or just any cardio question. Maybe it was because he was working so much with Magg – Dr. Pierce, but cardio was at least one topic he had to focus less on since he was already nailing it pretty well. 

“Correct! And with that we have today’s winner! Congrats Casey!” Maggie cheered. 

Casey couldn’t help but to grin widely. She was just so beautiful when she was excited like that. How could one human being be this smart and funny, but also so, so kind? 

“Wait, did she just –” 

“Shut it,” Taryn hissed, elbowing his ribs as she watched the two smile at each other like idiots. 

“And here’s your price!” She turned around to get the small purple pot from behind the ficus benjamina. He gasped a little when he recognized the plant in it. 

“But... that’s... That’s Thomas. Are you sure –” 

Maggie let out a soft laugh. “Yes. Yes I am sure. You... all... have taken such good care of them. So I thought whoever will win, will take good care of him.” 

Their hands touched as she handed him the jade plant. Both of their breaths hitched and their head snapped up to look at the other one. Casey’s hands gripped tightly onto the pot and her hands as they were on top of hers. It was only so Timothy wouldn’t fall down he would tell himself later. 

“Th-thank you, M- Dr. Pierce,” he managed to get out, removing his hands from hers and placing his hands somewhere else on the pot before Maggie let go of it. 

“You’re welcome, Parker,” she replied. He gave her a nod before he and his friends left the room to get some coffee, his eyes focused on the plant in his hands. 

"Those were sure a lot of cardio questions,“ Nico noted with a smirk. 

“I am head of cardio after all,” she countered. She tried to make it sound like a defense, but it was a weak one. They both knew why she was picking out those questions. 

Nico shook his head and chuckled softly. “You’ll never find a guy like that again.” 

Maggie answered with a sigh and a simple, “I know.” 

Because she did know that. But what was she going to do about it? 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know if you did!
> 
> My tumblr is [orthoglasses](http://orthoglasses.tumblr.com/) so you can come over if you wanna talk or have a prompt!!


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